Lamlash and Kilmory Parish Churches

Lamlash Church and Kilmory Church, Isle of Arran

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Sunday Service, 25 May 2014

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Now I’m no great fan of David Cameron but I’ve been feeling a bit sorry for him since his comments at Easter and the backlash that has resulted from them. He told his children that Easter was more than just “chocolate eggs”. He also said “Easter is a time for our whole country to reflect on what Christianity brings to Britain”. This prompted a group of 50 public figures to write a letter to the Daily Telegraph insisting that the UK was “a non-religious” and “plural” society and saying that to claim otherwise “fosters alienation and division”. The outcry from a vocal minority and more than that the attention given to that minority by the press make it clear that it is not easy being a Christian in today’s increasingly secular society. And it was with this in my mind that I approached today’s reading from John’s gospel.

In this story Jesus begins by making the obvious point that those with a legitimate reason for going into the sheep fold go in by the gate but those who want to steal the sheep or kill them and steal the wool climb in over the wall. He then points out, again what was well known, that the sheep know their own shepherds voice and follow him. If they hear an unfamiliar voice they panic, as sheep are good at doing. In the first century if two shepherds met each with their twenty five sheep there was no problem identifying which sheep belonged to which shepherd because the sheep recognised their shepherd’s voice and the shepherds knew their own sheep by sight.

So the Bible tells us that Jesus told this story and his listeners did not understand him, and we cannot blame them, for them Jesus was merely pointing out the blatantly obvious we might imagine their response would be ‘We know all that what’s your point?’

So Jesus changes the story, this time he makes it more personal. He says that he is the gate. What does that mean? Well to understand where Jesus was coming from when he told this story we need to be aware of the location of the story in the Bible.

In Chapter 9 immediately before today’s reading the question is, is Jesus the messiah, the king and Jesus seeks to answer the question by contrasting himself with thieves and robbers, the Pharisees and teachers of the law, who were insisting for their own agenda that Jesus was not from God. Jesus now repeats that he is the gate, the gate that leads to safety, the gate that leads to life, the gate that leads to eternal life.

Reading through the passage there are three important statements that Jesus makes. Firstly, ‘I tell you the truth, I am the gate.’ Then, ‘they will come in and go out.’ And finally, ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’. ‘I am the gate.’ ‘They will come in and go out.’ ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’.

Jesus is the gate, this says two things about Jesus first of all that he is the true shepherd, he isn’t a thief or a robber and it is through him that we reach salvation, it is through him that we have life not death. Then Jesus says they will come in and go out. Doors and gates are like that, we can use gates to come in and we can also use them to go out again. So to reach salvation we have to through Jesus, he is the way into salvation but we are not only going in through Jesus we are also going back out again through him.

Jesus does not want or expect us just to come into him, to live with him and other Christians in a holy huddle. Jesus expects that in this life we come into him in order that we may go out again into the world through him.

Living only in the world and not going through the gate to find Jesus leads to death not life. But not going back out into the world leads to a stunted life not the full life that Jesus promises us. Jesus said that the sheep would …go out and find pasture.’ Pasture was what the first century shepherd was constantly seeking for the sheep, it is the best of everything, plentiful grass to eat, still water to drink and comfortable rest, true and abundant life, and it could only be found outside the pen. If we as Christians are frightened to go out then we are settling for a parody of Christian life, we may feel nice and safe and comfy but we are denying ourselves the best life, all the best things that Jesus, our good shepherd, wants us to have.

But Thieves and robbers didn’t just exist in the first century, they are still here in the twenty first century, those who say that Jesus is NOT the king, that salvation is a myth and that the disadvantages of religion far outweigh the advantages. These people, as we read in the papers, use words like alienation and division to make speaking out about one’s faith seem like a bad thing. As Christians we can be unsure how to react in this kind of climate? How do we live in a country that is becoming more secular all the time in a country where people are not just indifferent but openly hostile to religions? There can be a temptation to huddle together in the safety of the sheep fold protected from the world?

But I don’t think that’s living the full and abundant life that God intends for us. I think the answer is we must go in and come out through Christ. Of course it is important to come to Church, to spend time in prayer and meditation, to study our Bibles to discuss our faith with other Christians but it is also important to go out into the world through Christ, changed and empowered by the spirit, and live fully there.

THIS is what Jesus did, he prayed, he studied, he went to the temple but he also lived life amongst the crowds, amongst the tax gatherers and sinners, the Pharisees and teachers of the law. He went to weddings and parties; he lived life to the full in the world. And wherever he was he interacted with people, he taught, he healed, he had an impact on people just by being there.

Many years ago I went to an Open University Summer School in London in connection with a course I was studying called ‘Life and Death.’ Pretty heavy stuff at times and quite an interesting and eye opening experience for me as many of these middle aged people spent the week working hard but also trying to relive their teenage years! Many of us headed for the college bar after the tutorials in the evening and the conversations were wide ranging and often quite challenging. I felt that I got as much out of meeting and talking to the other students as I did from the tutorials. However, I heard that there was a Church of England minister there and he found it all too free, too challenging too scary for him and he spent his time in his room.

Thinking about that I wondered what Jesus would have done and I think he would have been in the midst of it, talking, arguing, and responding to the challenges from people with a different viewpoint. Not hiding from the world but being part of life.

And that I think is what we as Christians should be doing, going out into the world through Christ living life in all its abundance as witnesses to Jesus the true king, as ‘a people belonging to God, declaring the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light.’ So the question and the challenge for us all this morning is this, We have come to church today, we have come in through Jesus, but are we prepared to go back out again?

Sunday Service, 11 May 2014

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The Good Shepherd

Introduction

We have a small sheep farm Swallowbrae in Torbeg. We are just coming to the end of the lambing season. Today most folk, even in this rural setting are not familiar with the work of a shepherd. It is lovely to see the wee lambs in the fields, happy and healthy and playing gang games together, but very few folk appreciate what the shepherd must do so that they get there.

Just now, John is out at 5.30 a.m., firstly he feeds the ewes in each field. He buys the feed by the tonne and he carries the equivalent of a bag of coal in weight out to the ewes in each field. He knows how many ewes and lambs he should have in each field and so he counts the sheep at the trough and if one or more is missing he goes to find them since it is likely that they are lambing or have just lambed. The remainder of his day is spent re-visiting the fields every 2-3 hours to ensure that all is well and if not to sort any problems.

And then there are pet lambs – orphan lambs for one reason or another. These have to be tended – milk every 6 hours (the last one at midnight), hay, water and lamb nuts supplied.

And this goes on for weeks, day in and day out.

And that’s just lambing. For the rest of the year, John is kept very busy – moving the sheep around to fresh grass; ensuring that they have water. Did you ever see an old bath in a field and wonder if it had been dumped there? Well, the shepherds find old baths very useful for when the ditches dry up – they fill them with water for the sheep. I have to say that it’s not something John has had to do very often in the recent past – in fact the problem has been too much rain.

And then the sheep have to be dosed regularly against disease and have a pour-on protection given against the flies in the summer.

They are clipped (or shorn) – again for their health. My job at clipping time is to roll and pack the fleeces and I can tell you that it is a very, very itchy job although I do have lovely soft hands at the end because of the lanolin in the fleeces.

And that’s still not the end of the shepherd’s job. Sheep are very good at getting to places they are not supposed to be – sometimes putting themselves in danger. So John regularly checks his fences and keeps them in good repair.

It is true that a shepherd knows each of his sheep individually. However, contrary to what some people think they are not given names, except for the pet lambs which are named by the children. Occasionally however, a ewe is named – to describe it kindly, “A Character” otherwise known as “A Troublemaker”. One such sheep on Swallowbrae was Coco – she really did have a clown-like face and she certainly had a sense of humour. Every lambing Coco would produce but, however many lambs she had she would reject all but one until she and the lambs were brought in to the shed to be kept together. Where, incidentally, it was warm, dry and there was unlimited food

What I have just described is how shepherds work today but it equally well describes the job of a shepherd in biblical times. Shepherding was a common occupation then and so the analogy would be understood by the listeners.

The readings today are just a sample of many references in both Old and New testaments likening our Lord to a shepherd – the Good Shepherd.

Take Psalm 23 first. It is undoubtedly one of the best-known passages in the Bible. Most of us learned it as children and it continues to be a comfort to those who are dying, or those who have lost loved ones. Maybe it’s so well-loved because it is so personal and individual.

As you know, David was himself a shepherd. He was known as the “Shepherd King” of Israel. But he saw Jehovah, the Lord God of Israel, as his shepherd. He speaks in this psalm as if he was one of the flock, one of the sheep. And it is as though he literally boasted aloud, “Look who my shepherd is — my owner — my manager! The Lord is!”

It is with pride that he says, “The Lord is my shepherd.” He chose us, he bought us, he calls us by name, he makes us his own and he delights in taking care of us.

This psalm is all about how the Lord takes care of us. So David continues by saying, “I shall not want.” The idea here is that the Lord supplies our every need. The NIV says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not lack anything.”

The second reading from 1 Peter 2, urges us to follow Jesus’ example.

“No pain, no gain.” That saying is true isn’t it? If you want to get your muscles into shape, you’ll need to work them to the point of exhaustion. That will cause some pain in the manner of sore muscles the day after your workout. Wouldn’t it be great if someone else’s pain could be your gain? What if instead having to spend an hour at the gym straining to lift weights and pounding the treadmill to get in shape, you could send someone else to the gym to sweat on your behalf and for your benefit? Their pain would become your gain: bigger muscles and a stronger heart without any effort on your part. Of course it doesn’t work that way. If you want to get stronger, then you and no one else will have to hit the weights. No pain, no gain.

When it comes to spiritual matters, however, the Apostle Peter says that gain is possible without pain. How – because of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Today Peter encourages us to stick with the Good Shepherd because his pain is our gain. And even though that gain will paradoxically bring pain in this life, we still have good reasons to stick with the Good Shepherd and not wander off on our own when the going gets tough.

We are to be like Jesus in the way we handle those who cut in front of us at the ATM, who are never satisfied with our work, who pick on us at school, or who blame us for their mistakes and sins. Yes, such people are harsh and mean. But how did Jesus handle such people? He didn’t curse those who crucified him – he offered words of forgiveness. That doesn’t mean that Jesus excused the sins committed against him. He simply did not take the matter of vengeance into his own hands. In the same way we are to commend ourselves to God when we are unjustly harassed or punished. We don’t need to demand or try to carry out justice on our own; God will do this for us in his time and in his way.

And finally, the reading from John has yet another point to make. This time Jesus is not only the shepherd but also the gate that is the way into the pen.

Two caretakers are mentioned in this account, the Good Shepherd, and the hired hand.

The hired hand had no connection with the sheep, no relationship with the sheep. He thought of himself first and the sheep last. If a sheep was attacked by a wolf, or lost, oh well, so what.

Then there is the good shepherd. The good shepherd is the owner of the sheep. He has a special relationship with them. In those times most shepherds didn’t own a lot of sheep. So sheep were like valued pets. There was nothing about their sheep that the good shepherd did not know. By day and night the shepherd lived with them. He was always there for them.

So, a shepherd, in order to know his sheep and care for them, has to live among them. He has to be close to them. Jesus came from heaven to earth to be close to His sheep. The Good Shepherd became a sheep, took on our nature, and lived life just like us (except without sin). That’s why He is the good Shepherd.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, knows the peculiar traits of His flock and watches over us with love and concern.

And then, in this chapter, Jesus describes a sheep pen. It had only one door. When the sheep returned to the fold at night after a day of grazing in the pleasant pastures, the shepherd stood in the doorway and inspected each one with tender care as it entered.

If a sheep was scratched or wounded by thorns, the shepherd would anoint it with oil to facilitate healing. If they were thirsty, he gave them water. After all had been counted and brought into the pen, the shepherd would lay across the doorway so no intruder could enter. The shepherd thus became the door. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who protects and sustains the life of the sheep. Jesus said, “I am the gate for the sheep.”

The distinguishing mark between the good shepherd and the hired hand is that the good shepherd would lay down his life for the sheep. He was their protector.

When Jesus laid down His life for the sheep He saved us from the destruction of sin and death. He gave His life to take away their power so they couldn’t destroy the flock.

But if the story ended here we’d have a problem. If a flock of sheep lose their shepherd because he laid down his life to save them from a pack of wolves, they are now shepherdless. And even if no more wolves come, soon they’ll wander off and get lost. And the death of the shepherd will have been in vain.

But the story doesn’t end here with the shepherd dead and the sheep scattered. Reading on to verse 18 tells us why: No man takes my life from Me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again. I have received this command from My Father.

Under the Old Testament law, the sheep died for the shepherd, but now the Good Shepherd dies for the sheep!

Our success as followers of Jesus is based on the love of a shepherd who was willing to lay down his life for us. He will keep us safe in the sheepfold if we’re smart sheep and follow the Good Shepherd.

Conclusion

The Lord wants to be our shepherd. He wants to bless us. He wants to care for us. But Jesus never hesitated to make it clear that when we come under his management and control there would be a new and unique relationship between him and us. There would be something special about belonging to this shepherd. There would be a distinct mark upon the man or woman that would differentiate them from the rest of the crowd.

In order to identify the sheep as his, today’s shepherd has to ear tag every sheep. The tag has the shepherd’s name and a unique reference number on it. In this way, it is easy to determine to whom the sheep belongs. It is not an easy thing to do, for either the sheep or the shepherd. But from that mutual suffering an indelible lifelong mark of ownership is made that can never be erased.

For the man or woman who recognizes the claim of Christ and gives allegiance to his absolute ownership, there comes the question of bearing his mark. The mark of Jesus is the cross. Jesus stated emphatically, “If any man would be my disciple, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

The Lord is my shepherd. What a difference that little word “my” makes.

A famous actor was once the guest of honour at a social gathering where he received many requests to recite favourite excerpts from various literary works. An old preacher who happened to be there asked the actor to recite the twenty-third Psalm. The actor agreed on the condition that the preacher would also recite it. The actor’s recitation was beautifully intoned with great dramatic emphasis for which he received lengthy applause. The preacher’s voice was rough and broken from many years of preaching, and his diction was anything but polished. But when he finished there was not a dry eye in the room. When someone asked the actor what made the difference, he replied “I know the psalm, but he knows the Shepherd.”

Let us pray.

Father God, in Jesus we have a true shepherd. We come together as the sheep of his fold to worship you and give thanks for this great gift. Help us to draw close to you that by your love and our attentive listening we may become so familiar with Christ’s voice that we will not be deceived or led astray by any other.

Amen.

Sunday Service, 23 March 2014

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When I saw in the lectionary that the reading for this week was Jesus and the Samaritan woman I was pleased. Not just because this is an interesting and well-known story but because when I was doing my qualification to become a teacher of Religious Education I did an essay on this passage from a feminist perspective. This was the first time I had really realised that the Bible could be read from different angles and it made me think. In fact this was probably one reason that I chose to do the dissertation for my theology degree on women in the Book of Judges. Some women have a really horrible time in the Book of Judges, in fact woman are often treated really badly, undervalued and marginalised in the Bible. Jesus, however, treated women rather differently, in his ministry he engaged with woman and treated them the same as the men he met as we see in today’s story.

Jesus left Judea in the south to go to Galilee in the North and he had to go through Samaria, well yes it would have been the quickest route but many commentators reckon it wasn’t the most normal one. Jews often went out of their way to avoid entering Samaria because they hated the Samaritans. The Samaritans were people who lived in what had been the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Samaria, the kingdom’s capital, was located between Galilee in the north and Judea in the south. The Samaritans were a racially mixed society with Jewish and pagan ancestry. Their temple was on Mount Gerazim instead of in Jerusalem and the Samaritans were despised by ordinary Jews. Rather than contaminate themselves by passing through Samaritan territory, Jews who were traveling from Judea to Galilee would often cross over the river Jordan, and bypass Samaria by going through Transjordan, then cross over the river again as they neared their destination.

But Jesus did go through Samaria and when he was there he stopped at a well for a drink. This story has many unusual aspects, firstly Jesus going through Samaria and here is another, both Jesus and the woman are at the well at the sixth hour, this is generally thought to be mid-day, the hottest time of the day, why was Jesus travelling at the hottest time of day? And why was the woman drawing water then, the normal time to draw water was in the cooler parts of the day?

And the unusual things continue, there at the well Jesus did something that would be quite acceptable and unremarkable to us but would have been shocking at that time and place, he asked a Samaritan woman for a drink. As I have said the Jews and the Samaritans were at daggers drawn and a Jew would never usually choose to speak to a Samaritan. But not only that, Rabbis, Jewish teachers did not usually speak to women in public, not even their own wives. I am always amused by the so called bruised and bleeding Pharisees who shut their eyes to avoid seeing a woman and got bumps and bruises as a result. For Jesus, a rabbi, to speak not only to a Samaritan but to a Samaritan woman was deeply shocking. The woman herself acknowledges as much when she says, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” But Jesus is here at this well for a reason and he ignores the taboos and continues to talk to the woman.

It quickly becomes apparent to us that Jesus and the woman are talking at cross-purposes. When Jesus talks about living water the woman thinks he means actual literal water but Jesus is talking about something altogether deeper and more vital. Jesus asked her if she wants living water and when she does not understand he says ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ Thinking of her own life the woman is thrilled by this idea, water that once drunk means that the person is never thirsty again, brilliant.

If any of you have ever been camping, maybe as a Scout or Guide or with your family you will know how much time and energy is spent collecting water. For this woman it would be a daily chore carrying every drop of water used in the household in large jars. Sure she wanted some of that water.

Jesus is aware that she is not on his wave length, so he says ‘Go, call your husband and come back’. But the woman says that she has no husband and Jesus replies ‘You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband’. What are we to make of that? Most commentators use this statement to claim that the woman is immoral, that she is prostitute an outcast from society that no-one wanted anything to do with, one commentator calls her the ‘Bad Samaritan’ in contrast to the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’. Feminist commentators however, have a different viewpoint; they put forward various explanations for her situation. We don’t really know. Some commentators suggest that the story of the woman is put here in direct contrast to the story of Nicodemus who encounters Jesus earlier in John’s Gospel. Nicodemus was a man, a Pharisee he had it all going for him whereas this was a Samaritan woman of doubtful character. The world saw Nicodemus very differently from the Samaritan woman but Jesus didn’t.

So Jesus told her something about her life he couldn’t possibly know, was that an accusation or was he trying to make her see that the water he was talking about wasn’t the literal water from the well. Well there doesn’t sound as if there is any censure in his words and the woman immediately said ‘I can see that you are a prophet.’ Maybe because she was trying to change the subject from her dodgy life or maybe because she realised that Jesus was not talking literally that they were having a theological discussion and so she asked Jesus a theological question ‘ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, (as I said that would be Mount Gerazim) but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.’ So which is right, where should we worship God? And Jesus tells her something very important he tells her that God is not interested in whether a person is Jew or Samaritan or where they worship, what interests God is that ‘his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.’ Its not the place it’s not the content of worship that matter it’s what we are putting into our worship and what we are seeking to take out that is important to God. If we sit here week after week just letting it all flow over us then we are not worshipping in the spirit and in truth, as we worship we must seek to be changed, we must allow ourselves to be changed. As she speaks to Jesus the Samaritan woman is changed.

Because now something else amazing happens, the woman now deeply involved in the spiritual nature of the conversation mentions the messiah, the Christ, and Jesus, for the first time in John’s gospel, reveals himself as the messiah, Jesus reveals himself to a Samaritan, to a woman, to this woman, this outcast. ‘Then Jesus declared, ‘I who speak to you am he.’ Quite a wow moment.

And into this strange and significant scene come the disciples, this hiatus allows the woman to dash off to her village leaving her water jars behind and Jesus with the disciples. Now interestingly Jesus and the disciples have a similar conversation but about food not water, and the disciples, despite having been with Jesus for some time are no quicker on the uptake than the woman.

But back to the Samaritan woman, when she gets back to her village, this woman, this outcast proves herself to be something else, she proves herself to be a disciple. Because she does what a disciple does, she brings others to Christ. She rushes back and tells everyone what happened to her and with a surprising influence she is believed. ‘Come; see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?’ She said. And her testimony was taken seriously; many people came out of the village to see this prophet on her say so. The change that talking to Jesus had made to this woman was obvious for her fellow villagers to see. So on her say so they went to hear Jesus, They listened to him, liked what he said, urged him to stay. ‘And because of his words many more became believers’. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.”

A truly amazing story and there are several important things we can say about this story, the fact that Jesus talks to a woman and a Samaritan points out that Jesus ministry was for everyone, not just for Jews and this is a big message in the gospels. But I think that the more important message is the nature of discipleship. The Samaritan woman was a disciple just as surely as Andrew was when he went and got his brother Peter, disciples are those who follow the great commission, who bring others to Jesus. Disciples can be anyone; disciples are not always the people we might expect, the people we think God would choose. When they returned the disciples were horrified to see Jesus talking to this foreign woman.

A disciple is someone who listens to what Jesus says, takes his message seriously, then bring others along. A disciple is someone who meets Jesus and allows themselves to be changed as the Samaritan woman was changed, someone who is born again as Nicodemus was born again.

Disciples can be anyone, they might even be us, ‘oh no you say, I’m not good enough’. The more we look at the people God and Jesus choose to do their will to be their disciples, the more we see that goodness doesn’t come into it. Remember when God looks at humanity he doesn’t see good and bad people, he sees sinners, because in Gods sight we have all sinned and fallen short. But he also sees potential, our potential to work for him, to help bring in his kingdom and that is what matters to God. Moses was a murderer, this woman was a woman and a Samaritan, the disciple Matthew was a hated tax collector, all chosen not because of what they were but because of what they could become. All changed and renewed by their meeting with God and Jesus.

It seems to me that Jesus didn’t happen upon this woman by chance, it seems to me that when he set out that day he knew that he would meet that woman and that she would be the very person to allow herself to be changed by meeting him so that she could bring her whole village to Jesus.

And my prayer for us this morning as we come together to worship the living God in spirit and truth is that we allow ourselves to be changed so that we too can be effective disciples, that we too can bring others to God and help to bring in his kingdom on earth.

Amen

Sunday Service, 16 March 2014

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John 3:16 could be the single most significant sentence in all of Scripture.

It’s brief enough to write on a post-it or memorize in moment, yet solid enough to withstand 2000 years of storms and questions. It begins with God, ends with life, and urges us to do the same! Listen to the impact this verse has had on people’s lives:

“I love John 3:16 because it is the gospel in a nutshell. It shares God’s great love for us, and our great need for him.” (Mac Powell, Third Day)

“John 3:16 is the foundation of my faith. A picture of undeserved, unconditional, and unwavering love from a Father to his children.” (Ernie Johnson, TNT Sportscaster)

“John 3:16 is the North Star of the Bible. If you align your life with it, you can find The Way home.” (Anne Graham Lotz)

“This is the promise that bears hope for the hopeless. When we finally realize ‘I can’t do this on my own’ this is the Father responding, ‘I know, so I’ve done it for you.’” (Jeff Foxworthy)

But before we can get to 3:16, we have to set the stage. It all begins with a silent figure moving stealthily through the darkened streets of Jerusalem. Nicodemus was one of the Pharisees, the religious elite who militantly rejected Jesus. So when he decided to seek Christ out and learn from him, he had to do so in secret. Slipping through alleyways and dimly lit streets, Nicodemus finds his way to a simple house where Jesus and his followers are staying.

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” (John 3:2).

Without hesitation, Jesus replies, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[” (John 3:3). I’m not sure what was on Nicodemus’ mind that night, but it’s clear what was on Jesus’ mind. Christ’s exposition on salvation reaches it’s climax in the sixteenth verse.

(John 3:16)
“ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

In this one verse, we see the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ and how it relates to us. Let’s look at some of the intricacies of this verse, starting with two simple words…

I. HE LOVES:

“For God so loved the world…” If those words are true, it changes everything. Imagine what the world would be like without God’s love… A dark planet hurtling through space unguided, undirected. No hope. No future. Nothing to live for. No greater purpose to our existence. Every death would be an end. Every grave a place of despair.

But God does love the world! We see it in every sunrise… every blade of grass… every fountain of water… every birth… every child’s face. God so loved the world!

God made us special and he loves us very much. That’s the message George Matheson needed to hear. He was only fifteen when he was told that he was losing what little eyesight he had. Not to be denied, Matheson continued with his plans to enrol in the University of Glasgow and his determination lead to his graduation in 1861 at age nineteen. By the time he finish his graduate studies he was completely blind.

But his spirit didn’t collapse until his fiancée returned his engagement ring. She said she couldn’t see herself spending her life bound by the chains of marriage to a blind man. He adapted to life without sight, but never recovered from his broken heart. George’s sister volunteered to live with him to take care of him but, years later, as a well-loved pastor in Scotland, George’s sister came to him to announce her engagement. He was happy for her, but his mind went back to his own heartache. He consoled himself in thinking of God’s love which is never limited, never conditional, never withdrawn, never uncertain. Out of this experience he penned these words:

O love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, That in thine ocean depths it flow may richer, fuller be.

The Bible says, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39 NLT).

A writer said, “If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, he’ll listen.

He loves.
And because he loves…

II. HE GIVES:

Jesus said, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” Just to say, “I love you,” doesn’t really mean a whole lot. It has to be tangibly demonstrated, it has to be proven – God’s love included. The Bible says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8).

That sounds strange to some people. So many people in the world respect the teachings of Jesus. They admire his example. But no matter how they turn it around, they can’t see any significance in his death. One man even said, “That’s the daftest thing I’ve ever heard. I don’t need God to give anyone for me,” he claimed. “I’ve led a good life. Held a good job. People respect me. My wife loves me. I don’t need God to give me his son.” But are we really as good as we think we are? How well do we score against God’s basic laws–the Ten Commandments:

  1. “You shall not steal.” Have you ever stolen anything? A paper clip, a biscuit? That makes you a thief.
  2. “You must not lie.” Those who say they never have, just did.
  3. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” Ever let God’s name slip passed your lips in anger or frustration? The Bible calls that blasphemy.

And that’s just three out of ten. We could keep going, but I don’t think we’d fare any better. Most sincere people, when we’re honest, know that we’re really not all that good. We all have regrets. We’ve all made mistakes. The Bible calls that sin. And we do it all the time.

Our sin separates us from God. So if any of us are ever going to have a real relationship with our Creator, then it’s up to Him to find a way to reconcile us. That’s where Jesus comes in. He determined to build that bridge with an old rugged cross. God gave Jesus to bring salvation to the world through his death.

In verse fourteen, Jesus alludes to an event in the Old Testament (Numbers 21:4-9). The children of Israel–God’s special people–had rebelled against God, so God sent poisonous snakes that bit the people so that many died. But this was also a story of grace. Moses interceded for the people and God provided a remedy. He told Moses to make a brass serpent and lift it up on a pole for everyone to see. Anyone who had been bitten who then looked at the serpent would immediately be healed.

We’re in a similar situation. The whole world has been bitten by sin, and the “wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Just as the serpent was lifted on that pole for the people to look to for healing, Jesus would be lifted on a cross for us to look to for our healing. God sent his Son to die, not only for Israel, but for the whole world.

Although God’s remedy was sufficient for all of Israel, it was only effective for those who “looked upon the serpent.” And although God’s love and Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for the whole world, it is only effective if…

III. WE BELIEVE

Jesus said that God “gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish…” This concept runs contrary to our instincts. And it’s so simple. We expect a more complicated cure, a more sophisticated salvation. And what about “God helps those who help themselves”?

No other religion offers what Jesus promises. Judaism sees salvation as a Judgment Day decision based on morality. Buddhism grades your life according to the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. Muslims earn their way to Allah by performing the duties of the Five Pillars of Faith.

But not Christianity – Jesus calls us to do one thing: believe!

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:18 )

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36 )

I tell you the truth, whoever believes has eternal life. (John 6:47)

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8)

But what about baptism, repentance and a changed life? Are those things not necessary? No, of course not. Those things are absolutely essential. But baptism, repentance, a changed life, and things like that are not in addition to faith. They are expressions of it. They are acts of faith that work together with our faith to make our faith real.

But what Jesus wants us to see is that it’s not because of what we’ve done, but because of who he is and all he asks is for us to put our trust in him, and him alone.

Once upon a time, there lived an elderly man whose one and only son preceeded him in death. The man was very wealthy, but because he had no living heirs his estate was auctioned off when he died. People came from miles around to bid on all the wonderful antiques and riches proudly displayed in the courtyard of his manor. The first item up for bid was an amateurish portrait of the rich man’s son. No one bid. The attendants grew restless, anxious to bid on the real family treasures. But the auctioneer wouldn’t proceed to any other items until the painting had sold. Finally, a young mother bid on the painting. She had worked in the manor as maid for a little while and new how much the boy meant to his father. Suddenly the auctioneer threw down his gavel and announced that the auction was over. He walked over to the woman, gave her the painting and told her that everything she saw now belonged to her. The elderly man left specific instructions in his will that whoever buys the son, gets it all!

God has done the same thing! The Bible says, “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12).

Again, a quote from a religious writer “God rewards those who seek him. Not those who seek doctrine or religion or systems or creeds. Many settle for these lesser passions, but the reward goes to those who settle for nothing less than Jesus himself.” And the reward is that when we believe…

IV. WE LIVE:

“Whoever believes in him,” Jesus said, “shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Although, people sometimes imagine spending eternity in the clouds, floating around and strumming harps unendingly, that’s certainly not the Biblical picture of Heaven.

The Bible describes Heaven as a place that will have rivers, trees, cities, buildings, gates, streets, mountains, and houses (Revelation 21-22). Although its glory will be beyond description, its essential components will be the same as those we find here on Earth. Paradise lost will be paradise restored. Long ago, God declared “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17). God’s plan for the Earth is not to destroy it, but to redeem it, to renew it, to restore it to the perfect paradise it once was before the fall–before sin entered the world and corrupted it.

And one of the greatest blessings of heaven is what won’t be there:

No death, no suffering. No funeral homes, abortion clinics, or psychiatric wards. No rape, missing children, or drug rehabilitation centres. No bigotry, no muggings or killings. No worry or depression or economic downturns. No wars, no unemployment… And there will be close friendships but no cliques, laughter but no put-downs. No hidden agendas, no backroom deals, no betrayals.

What a wonderful world to look forward to. But still there’s more. The Bible says that when Jesus comes riding on the clouds “those who have died believing in Christ will rise,” and after the resurrection we will be given new bodies! This is how the Bible describes our heavenly bodies:

The sun has one kind of splendour, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendour.
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
(1 Corinthians 15:41-44)

In this life, we get old. We get tired. Our bodies just won’t do what they used to do. But in eternity, we’ll run faster, jump higher, play harder, worship with radiance, and we’ll never get tired. Never grow old.

The most amazing thing in heaven will be our intimate relationship with our Maker and Redeemer. In Heaven, the Bible says, “God’s presence is with people and he will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them and will be their God” (Revelation 21:3). “We won’t need to be drawn into God’s presence. We’ll live there, constantly and consciously.”

Conclusion:
He loves. He gives. We believe. We live.

It really is that simple. God loves this world, more than we’ll ever know. He gave his one and only Son so that we could live forever with him. Amen.

Sunday Service, 2 March 2014

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Last year my mother had a cataract operation – a very common and hugely successful operation these days. Mum went into hospital one day, had the operation and got home the next day. She now only needs glasses for reading – a great success.

But you know, many more of us may need eye surgery… maybe our eyesight is getting bad and sometimes it’s only with hindsight that we can see 20/20.

How precious is our eyesight. I think it’s one of the greatest gifts that God gave us. Our eyes allow us to see the beauty that surrounds us. We can see the beauty of the creation, we can see the beauty of our family & friends. Can you imagine having a son or daughter, a mum or dad, and never being able to see them – not knowing what they really look like. Or not being able to see the blue sky or the green grass, or all the beautiful colours of the rainbow. Can you imagine what it would be to live in a dark world – a world without light – a world without sight.

Many of us may have perfect eyesight and yet we don’t see.

A theologian once said, “The eyes are the windows into our soul…” Our eyes, like windows, allow light to shine in. Both eyes & windows allow us to see what is outside. We need both. We need the capability to absorb what is on the outside – allowing it to come into our lives.

We would never build a house without windows. Not only do we need the light that shines in the window – but we need to be able to see out through the window – so we can see & experience a whole other world, outside our window…

In a similar way, our scripture this morning is another window that allows us to see our Lord Jesus Christ in a NEW WAY. It was on top of the mountain that through the Transfiguration of Christ, God allowed the disciples, Peter, James, & John to see Jesus Christ in His true identity as the Son of God.

Matthew tells us that Jesus: “was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became white as light…” This is a very interesting & symbolic description of who Christ really is because in the Gospel of John, Jesus describes Himself as “the light of the world…”

We know that in the natural world, light is necessary for the life & growth of plants, animals, & even human beings. It’s also necessary for spiritual life & growth. Many people refer to their spiritual knowledge & Christian journey by saying, “I have come to see the light” or “the light has shown upon me…” As if to say, they no longer live in darkness – but they now live in the light of Christ.

As the disciples followed Jesus Christ, Jesus often spoke to them, teaching them lessons of life.
Through His words, He often gave them words of warning about the corrupt & phony religious leaders of their day & time. He often gave them words about His true identity. And on many occasions, He spoke words about His departure. But words can only go so far. It’s obvious that the disciples didn’t comprehend everything Jesus was telling them.

It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words…

That’s why Jesus did a lot of His own ministry… He knew that a picture was worth a thousand words… That’s why He not only used words, but He used His hands.

In the presence of His disciples, Jesus healed the sick, He gave sight to the blind, He made the dumb to speak, & the deaf to hear… He fed the 5,000… He walked on the water…

He was painting pictures for His disciples to see, beautiful, powerful pictures, as if to say, “Don’t you see, I am the Son of God, I am Jesus the Christ… I am the light of the world… And I have come to bring sight to the blind.

But even after all of this, Christ knew that His disciples couldn’t fully understand His message… He knew that they needed another sign, another picture – So Jesus took His executive group, the inner circle of the disciples, and they take a short retreat to the top of the mountain to where there will be very little talking – but Jesus will paint one very powerful picture.

On the mountaintop, God reveals His ultimate Word, what John describes in his gospel as “the Word made flesh and dwelt among us.” The truth of that Word is revealed to these 3 disciples – the 3 who would become the anchors of the early church.

The picture that was painted for them, showed the full glory of heaven through Jesus the Son. For Jesus was revealed as the light of the world, His face lit up like the light of the sun, His clothes turned white as light and then suddenly, there standing with Jesus was Moses & Elijah…
Moses – the great Old Testament giver of the law.
Elijah – the greatest of all prophets.
Together – The Law & the Prophets.

If you read ahead to Matthew 22: 40, you’ll see that phrase… It was the common way that the Jews referred to the Old Testament – “The Law and the Prophets…”

What is the connection? What is the significance of this trinity – Moses, Elijah, & Jesus? Here we have the Law & the Prophets standing there talking to Jesus – the One who came to fulfil the law and the One who fulfils the words of the prophets. The picture painted for the disciples is the One who has come to fulfil the promises of scripture.

And as if that wasn’t enough – A cloud from heaven comes and from that cloud, God Himself speaks saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

This was just too much for the disciples. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing, but when they heard the voice speak from heaven, the Bible says, “they fell to the ground and were overcome with fear…”

Do you blame them? I think you and I would have been overcome with fear also. This story is really hard for us to imagine… It’s easy to read, but hard to comprehend…

So just imagine what would happen if God showed Himself to us this morning. Imagine coming into the church, greeting each other and then quietly praying to yourself for God’s presence. And then suddenly, in the middle of the service, out of nowhere, comes this great bright light – a blinding light that fills the whole church…

All you can see is this great, bright, shining light… And then, out of nowhere you hear this powerful voice speaking to you…

What if God really showed up here at Kilmory/Lamlash one Sunday… What would we do?
Well, I have to tell you that:
GOD IS HERE! To be seen. To be heard. And to have His touch felt.
Can you see the picture? Christ – A sight for sore eyes! What we have before us is the powerful picture of the real love of God.
And it’s only when we see the whole picture or the Holy picture, that we will have Christ in our lives… a Christ who reaches down & touches us…

In verse 6, when the disciples realized what they were seeing & hearing, when the true picture of Christ was revealed to them, the Bible says, “they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid…”

Jesus touched them. Researchers today believe that our sense of touch is important. They suggest touching and hugging as a form of therapy, which appears to give us health & well-being.

I don’t know if Jesus actually hugged the disciples, but the Greek word for touch means an intimate feeling – it also means to light, to kindle & to heal. So when the disciples were touched by Jesus, their hearts & souls were kindled with the light of Christ. They were healed, their fears were removed & they could rise with confidence.

Every time Christ reaches out & touches us, in a sense, He is transfiguring us – from what we are, to what He would have us be.

Transfigure means to change – When we are touched by Christ, His touch changes us.

Can you see the picture? Isn’t it a sight for sore eyes? But there’s something else ….
Not only is Jesus Christ the Word made flesh, not only is He the Son of God, not only is He the Holy Master of our lives – he is our friend.

When He reached down & touched the disciples, verse 8 says that, “when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus…” Think of this as a picture of friendship. When they looked up, all they saw was Jesus, clothed again in humanity. The cloud was gone, Moses & Elijah were gone. No voice, No light… Just Jesus, their old friend.

He helps them to their feet & together they head back down the mountain. They had walked up the mountain as friends & now they walk down as friends… except… as they walked down the mountain, the disciples knew the truth…
That the Messiah is their personal friend…
That he God is their personal friend…

It’s the picture of truth. Jesus said in John 15: 15, “No longer do I call you servants… but I call you friends…”
What a friend we have in Jesus. Not only is He Holy, He is personal. He knows us & He wants us to know Him.

And for each of us God will paint a different picture:

There are those who don’t know who Christ really is. They have heard about Him, and have ideas but they haven’t really seen Him as their personal Lord & Saviour, or as their friend. They will see one picture.

Or maybe the picture is for those people dealing with some problems where life has overwhelmed them and they just can’t see how it’s all going to work itself out & be okay.

And yet another picture for those people feeling a sense of loneliness, searching for “something” that will bring fulfilment in their lives. Maybe they know that they are not living the life that God wants them to live.

And again a picture for some who just feel disconnected. Perhaps they are searching for a place to call home, a place where they can be surrounded by the love of Christ, a place where they can fit into the family of faith.

Whatever is missing in our lives, Jesus Christ can fill that void. That’s exactly what He came to do – That’s His mission – That’s the picture God wants us to see.

Let us open our eyes to see God’s picture and say, “Thanks be to God!”

Sunday Service, 23 February 2014

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The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price Matthew 13.44-46

How much is human life worth.
Well I guess it depends how you look at it. In purely chemical terms, some iron from our blood, calcium from our bones, sodium, potassium etc. then we aren’t worth much £100 pounds at most. If we were to ask a human trafficker waiting to load you into the back of his van he might say £1,000 or £2,000, maybe as much as £5,000. Or perhaps we should base the value of a human life on what a person can produce, so people who can produce a lot would be worth a lot and children and old people would have little value. In our society Footballers, actors, pop stars, they all earn a lot of money so perhaps they are worth a great deal.

How do you value a human life, is it just the bare essentials, is it what you produce, is it what you know, is it what you can do, is it how you look? Because sometimes it seems as if that is the way the world values human lives. But maybe there is another way; well the Bible tells us there is.

Here are two stories base on our Bible readings this morning.

The first concerns a poor but hardworking man. Every day he goes -about his work, on his small holding. It’s not easy, life is hard but by his hard work, the sweat of his brow and the graft of his hands he manages to eke out a living for his family. And then it all goes wrong, he becomes sick and cannot work for a few weeks, he borrows some money to see him through but when he gets his strength back he cannot earn enough to pay back the loan plus the interest, it’s a common enough story. As he looks at his desperate wife and his hungry children he knows what he must do. He must sell his land, his small holding. His birth right will have to go to pay his debts and feed his family.

He feels a great sense of shame, sick to his stomach as he hands over the title deeds, feels as if his father, his grandfather, his great grandfather are all looking at him , all blaming him for losing the family land, all despising him for his weakness. The only thing his family ever had and he is selling it. But what else can he do, he is saving his family but it is giving him no satisfaction.

So another day dawns and he’s off to work again, but this time it’s not his own field. All day plodding up and down turning another man’s earth on another man’s farm with another man’s plough and another man’s oxen for another man’s profit, he feels absolutely worthless. Day after day, until one day something happens, he hears a clink of metal on metal as the plough cuts through the earth. He bends down to investigate and as he rubs the earth away from the metal he sees the glitter of gold. GOLD! He begins to scrabble in the earth; he can barely believe what he is seeing, treasure. Lots of it, coins and jewels, rings, bracelets, precious, beautiful valuable things put away for safe keeping long years ago. He looks up at the cloudless sky and he smiles and he says quietly to himself, finders keepers, because that’s what the rabbis say!

Quickly he covers up the hole, he runs home on winged feet, excited but terrified, speed is of the essence. He runs home and like a whirlwind rushes round the house catching up anything of value, a few coins, some bits of jewelry, a plate his mother gave him, his family look on in astonishment when clasping his bits and pieces to his chest he pants out of the house. A few minutes later he is laying it all out in front of his master to purchase the land. And then the relief the exaltation, it’s his, all his, the land and everything in it!

Meanwhile far away on the coast another man goes about his business. But his life is very different, no dirt and grime for him. He walks around in a swish of expensive robes, his fingers glisten with jewels, this man is a very rich man, he is a merchant and his ships ply their trade far and wide. At ports up and down the country the colours of his ships sails are known to everyone. He is a rich, rich man, his house is paved with marble, there are fountains playing, beautiful tiles, inlaid furniture. He eats the best of foods, drinks the best of wines, but he is not happy. Something is missing.

So day after day he wonders to and fro looking for that elusive prize. Every day as the boats come in he is to be found searching, searching amongst the fishermen’s catches. Hoping that maybe today will be the day, He knows that the boats have been out to sea, he knows that the young men have been pitching themselves overboard, bursting their lungs to dive into the inky depths to bring up those glittering pearls and he is desperate to see what they have found.

And on this day as he makes his way his heart filled with a mixture of expectation and resignation he sees the boys, he sees the tables and the baskets, he sees the oysters scattered on the flagstones, he sees his heart’s desire, the most perfect pearl, fat and round and glistening and worth absolutely everything to him.

In a flash finger are clicked, servants summoned porters come running. He sells his beautiful furniture, his wonderful home, his jewels, his robes. And as he walks away that day clutching the faultless pearl in his ring less hands he lifts it to his cheek, feels its smoothness, smells the scent of the sea on it and knows that for the first time in his life he is satisfied.

Two very different men and yet they are the same person. Some people have thought it might be you and me but I don’t think it is I think the person in both stories is God. God himself who like the poor man would sell everything just to have what he wants. And what he wants is YOU. God who like the rich man has everything at his beck and call, the skies and the seas, worlds and galaxies that you and I have never dreamed of. And yet all of it is not enough to make him happy until he has you. God who is the shepherd looking for lost sheep, the father searching for the lost son.

So let’s think about how valuable we are. God would give his most precious thing to have you. God the creator of the universe, of the seas and stars and the planets could never be content until he has brought you, yes you home. That is how much your life is worth.

And if we understand how valuable we are to God, how precious we are in His sight, it should follow that we too will value our lives. We sang a song last week in Whiting Bay and Kildonan church that has the line, ‘Guilty, vile and helpless we’. And yes we are Guilty and helpless in God’s sight but we are not vile we are valuable. In fact the chorus that starts ‘I’m special because God has loved me For He gave the best thing that He had to save me’ is much more on the money as far as I am concerned’. And, that is the first point that we can take from these parables that God loves us, we are valuable to him. Our lives have value and we can think highly of ourselves because God thinks highly of US.

But there is another message too, because these parables are sometimes called the hidden parables—so-called because Jesus tells them only to His disciples. So we find out at Matthew verse 36 that Jesus takes the disciples away from the crowd and into the house and tells them these parables. So this is a message not for everyone but for his closest followers. What was the message for his disciples then and for his followers now? The message is that everyone is valuable to God, everyone matters. God cannot be happy, cannot be content until every single one of his beloved children has turned to him and is safely held in his loving arms. So when we leave here today we should feel filled with joy because we know how much God values us and how much our lives are worth. But we should also feel challenged because like the disciples, as disciples, we have been given a big and important task, to let everyone we meet know that God loves and values them. People who no-one else values, people who don’t value themselves, people whom the world has written off, people we don’t like or cannot understand, people who seem worthless to us. And by following the example of Jesus we can do that. And the way to do it is that we ourselves have to value everyone, remember Jesus did not spend his time with the Pharisees and leaders, he spent his time with lepers, with fishermen, with tax collectors, with women of uncertain background, with mad people. Jesus spent time with people of all sorts, he visited their homes, he listened to their stories, he reached out and touched them, he truly cared for everyone he met and that is what we must do. I know that isn’t always easy but fortunately we don’t have to do it by ourselves we have the power of the Holy Spirit to help us.

So let’s try and remember God loves and values us all, we are his pearls of great price, and remember too that as his followers we have to go out into the world and show God’s love by valuing every one we meet, by letting them know that they are valued by us and more importantly valued by God.

Sunday Service, 9 February 2014

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The Winter Olympic Games have just begun in Sochi in Russia. The Games being staged in Sochi are said to be the most expensive in the history of the games costing billions of pounds in building work. The athletes taking part in the games will have trained for a long time in for their relevant events and hopefully some of them will win a medal.

Another big event taking place later this year is the Commonwealth games, which are being held in Glasgow in July. Like the Winter Olympic Games, with the Commonwealth Games there has been a lot of building work that has gone on for These last few years by a lot of people, More importantly to think about are the sporting stars who have spent years in training to take part in their relative sports and in the many different events. From swimming, cycling to track and field events and many others. And of course many great athletes from all over the commonwealth will hope to take part.

In the passage we have read from Philippians 3 from vs 12 today Paul gives us a picture of an athlete. In the preceding verses of Ch3 Paul gives us the picture of an accountant. He was saying to the Philippians about what it meant to be a Christian and what the basic Christian lifestyle is. His picture of an accountant and accountancy was quite different from ours if you read through it. Where an accountant would look for the profit Paul counted his profits as loss. He counted everything in his life as loss compared to knowing Jesus. Knowing Jesus for Paul in his life was all the profit he needed, he was rich in that. Jesus was the most important person in his life that for him was whom the Christian lifestyle should be about. So now Paul goes on in this letter to the Christians at Philippi and likens himself and the Christian life to that of an athlete. The athlete in all their training for the Commonwealth games their aim their goal will be to win a medal. For the runner some have to run as fast as they can to reach the goal, the winning tape and cross the finishing line first and gain the gold medal. Paul says “I press on towards the goal”. There is an aim and a goal in the Christian life. The picture Paul is giving us here of the athlete in the Christian life is not of a runner in a sprint race, the hundred meters dash for instance it’s more like a marathon. The race can usually be long and arduous, with obstacles in the way. Paul never says that the Christian life is easy, but however he says he wants to press on in it. In his early years of his missionary career in Africa, David Livingston expressed his willingness for service to the London Missionary Society by saying he was “willing to go in any direction, provided it was forward”. Paul here has the right mental attitude of heart and mind at ease with Christ’s peace coupled with his realistic appraisal of his incompletion and imperfection. Paul borrows the imagery of the first century world here, where the spread of the Greek culture encouraged the cult of the body, in the stadium and the gym. He is like a man at the starting blocks (or first century starting stones) stripped to the bare essentials and ready for action. In his experience of knowing Jesus he has we could say been gripped by him, and is now given to Christ for the rest of his life. Paul has not yet been made perfect, in the sense of a full experiential sense of fulfilment in his Christian life. Most Christians are aware of the good hand of God on their lives. Sometimes it seems as if we lose our grip on him. There are many things that attempt to side track us in our work for the Lord some of them attractive and real. We are soon coming into another season of Lent when we remember the time Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by the devil. After fasting for 40 days and 40 nights Jesus was hungry and the devil tempted him by telling him to turn the stones into bread and relieve his situation. The devil went on in other ways tempting him, trying to sidetrack him away from his goal and that was to do his Fathers will, his work. We can easily be tempted too and Paul tells us of some of these things earlier in this letter. Our own plans and goals, our leisure activities even our families. Being a Christian though, following Jesus is serious business, and by Gods strength we can resist all that would try to sidetrack us from him. Paul says ” Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it, But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on”

Part of the mental attitude of the athlete is to be focused and concentrate on the goal, the way ahead. They have to block out all that is behind them, where they have come from and all who are behind them. If the runner in the race turned and looked behind them, what could happen to him or her. Well they could trip and fall, get hurt and lose. Paul says – forget what is behind. Paul had reason to forget what was behind though, he had held the coats of those who stoned Stephen the first Christian martyr.

We have all done things I’m sure that have been wrong and there maybe things we are ashamed of and we can live in the tension of what we have been and what we want to be.

Because our hope is Christ we can forget the things of the past and look forward to what God will help us become.

In our Old Testament reading today Isaiah says “Forget the former things do not dwell on the past”. Just as God led his people out of Egypt and through the Red Sea so he will lead them out of Babylon and through the terrible wilderness to their home in the holy land. God wants his people to forget the failures of the past, witness for him in the present and claim his promises for the future. God doesn’t always work in the same way, he does new things and his people have to watch out for them.

Don’t dwell on the past, what you have done but instead grow in the knowledge of God by concentrating on your relationship with him now. Realise that you are forgiven and then move on to a life of faith and obedience.

This picture of the athlete Paul is giving us running this race this marathon race, and if you know anything of running a marathon it is said that about the twenty mile mark the runner can hit the wall. Not that I’ve had experience of that of running in a marathon and I don’t intend to. But I’m told that if a runner hits the wall then they are encouraged to focus not at that time on the finishing line but focus on a point six feet ahead and reach that then another six feet and so on. This mental attitude of the runner can help them finish. Mature runners know this method this mental attitude too. A little at a time. Sometimes trying to live the perfect Christian life it’s like hitting that wall. It can be so difficult that it leaves you drained and discouraged. We may feel so far from perfect that we can never please God with our lives. Paul uses perfect to mean mature or complete, not flawless in every detail. Those who are mature in the faith not necessarily in years, should press on in the Holy Spirits power, knowing that Christ will reveal and fill in any discrepancies between what we are and what we should be.

The athletes that will compete in the Commonwealth games, will have to train but they will not do this
training for the games on their own they will have someone to help them, and that is a coach. The marathon runners too will have a coach, someone who will help them, and that they follow their teaching, coaching. A lot of these coaches would have been runners in the past as well.

It’s impossible to achieve Gods goals in our own lives by ourselves. In the next section Paul is like a coach calling his team to follow his example.

At vs 17 Paul says ” Join with others in following my example, brothers and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you”

There aren’t many Christians who can say ‘follow my example, brothers’, Paul challenged the Philippians to pursue Christlikeness by following his own pattern or example. This didn’t mean of course that they should copy everything that he did, he had just stated he wasn’t perfect, But as he focused his life on being like Christ and having his attitude as he said back in Ch 2, so should they. The gospels may not yet have been in circulation so he couldn’t tell them to read the Bible to see what Christ was like, So he urged them to imitate him.

That Paul could tell people to follow his example is a testimony to his character. Paul had been a tent maker and he still plied his trade on his missionary journeys and when he was founding the churches. His trade would have brought him into contact with a lot of people. Without a word and only by his action, would others know that he was a Christian, and following the example of his Lord. Yes he preached Christ but at other times he was busy at his tent making in among ordinary folk. How are you when you are out in the world say. If you work now or in the days when you were working how do you or did you act.

In your leisure, time how are you to those around you. Do folk know you follow Christ by the way you talk or the way you act. What we do and say doesn’t just reflect on us as individuals but on the church. It is said that there is nothing that puts folk off the church more than the folk in it. I’ve heard that isn’t true of you here of course.

Paul was an example to the Philippians because he followed the example of Christ and his goal that he was pressing on Towards was of course to be with him always.

Paul says in Vs 20 “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ”.

The citizens of Philipi had the same rights and privileges as the citizens of Rome, because Philipi was a Roman colony. Likewise Paul says Christains will one day experience all the special privileges of our heavenly citizenship because we belong to Christ. In spiritual terms, God’s grace makes Christians approach life from a heavenly perspective. Their names are written in the Lamb’s book of Life – John tells us in Revelation. The idea of being unworldly and godly, and the way of thinking that our home is really in heaven, has taken two kinds of hard knocks in the last decades.

On the one hand people have used this concept as a way of opting out of society, refusing to vote in elections, take part in politics or local affairs and so on. There have been extreme examples of the kind of people who don’t go to public worship because they can’t find a church that is so called spiritual enough to suit their heavenly views. They don’t consider that were they to find the perfect church, it would immediately become imperfect if they were to be welcomed into membership. On the other hand, some Christians bend over backwards to accommodate the low standards imposed by a world which loves to squeeze you into its mould. The result is an anaemic brand of Christianity which has lost all its distinctiveness

There is the saying too that you can be too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use. Godly people who set their mind and heart on things above can be a positive asset to the society though in which they live. There they function as salt and light, part of God’s providential restraint in the cut throat, rat race of modern life. Heavenly citizenship gives us great expectations. Paul says our heavenly citizenship is our goal and like the athlete crossing the finishing line we will reach the goal at the right time, in Gods timing.

The final part in Ch 4vs 1 is really a bridge between ch 3 and 4. “Paul says “Therefore my brothers, you whom I love and long for my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord”

In this verse Paul tells the Philippian brothers and sisters that as far as he is concerned they are loved and longed for. The thought of them makes his heart well up with joy as they display the Christian fruitfulness which caps all that he has worked for as a Christian leader. The fruit of the gospel is clearly seen in their actions. It’s which they live. There they function as salt and light, part of God’s providential restraint in the cut throat, rat race of modern life. Heavenly citizenship gives us great expectations. Paul says our heavenly citizenship is our goal and like the athlete crossing the finishing line we will reach the goal at the right time, in Gods timing.

The final part in Ch 4vs 1 is really a bridge between ch 3 and 4. “Paul says “Therefore my brothers, you whom I love and long for my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord”

In this verse Paul tells the Philippian brothers and sisters that as far as he is concerned they are loved and longed for. The thought of them makes his heart well up with joy as they display the Christian fruitfulness which caps all that he has worked for as a Christian leader. The fruit of the gospel is clearly seen in their actions. Its like a family situation where you can have the joy of seeing the values you have instilled on you children or grandchildren emerging in their childhood and adult behaviour. The Philippian church brought great joy to Paul as he watched them develop, I am sure this would have been the experience of your past ministers here too and will be in the one to come to you. In the face of all their difficulties Paul has been telling the church at Philippi to press on towards their goal. And in all the difficulties that would face them internally, within the church and externally out in the world, he encouraged them to dig their heels in and stay with the gospel teaching. How do they do that, how do you do that. The way to run the race to the finishing line and at the same time stand firm is to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, know that God is working his purpose out, sometimes that is doing a new thing and know too that this world is only your earthly home.

Sunday Service, 2 February 2014

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Beautiful Attitudes

Imagine you’re attending a large conference. Maybe it’s to do with your work, or perhaps it’s a Christian conference. It’s just about time for the keynote speaker to stand up and address the auditorium. Expectations are high. There’s been a gradual build up: Notices, introductions, perhaps some singing. And then hush descends. The speaker steps up onto stage, walks to lectern, opens his or her notes & puts them in order, takes sip of water, draws breath. All this signals that there is about to be something special to listen to.

Jesus sat down.

Right at the start of the Sermon on the Mount we learn that Jesus went and sat down. Equivalent of walking up to lectern all miked up. Expectation. Hanging on his every word. In those days wandering, itinerant teachers strolled about as they taught. When they sat down it was serious.

And the key note speech begins…..blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth….

Now wait a minute – that’s not quite what they’re expecting from the keynote speaker. That’s about as helpful as Monty Python saying ‘blessed are the cheesemakers’.

So what are these beatitudes? The term “beatitudes” comes from a Latin word for blessed ‘beatus’. Billy Graham called them the ‘beautiful attitudes’. It’s certainly a way of remembering them. But what’s so beautiful about them? Is it really beautiful to be poor, to be mourning, to be persecuted? All situations where if we’re honest we wouldn’t feel very blessed! Are these so-called ‘beautiful attitudes’ the ones we should be aiming for as Christians? Trying to become as sad, as poor, as persecuted as possible?

Here is a different interpretation of the passage:

Wonderful news for the poor in spirit! The kingdom of heaven is yours.
Wonderful news for the mourners. You’re going to be comforted.
Wonderful news for the meek! You’re going to inherit the earth…etc. etc.
Wonderful news!

There’s a noticeable difference isn’t there, between saying ‘blessed are’ the poor and ‘wonderful news for’ the poor. And it’s all to do with the Greek word “makarios” and how it’s translated, because there isn’t a direct comparison in the English. Makarios has been translated ‘blessed’ as in the NIV, or ‘happy’ in the Good News Bible. But others want to say it’s more than that. It’s someone who is to be congratulated.

Does this perhaps change how we picture Jesus’ teaching?

What if rather than saying ‘try hard to live like this’ Jesus is saying ‘the people who are living like this are in good shape, and so they should be congratulated.

Here’s Willie Barclay’s take on it…

‘These beatitudes aren’t a list of pious hopes of what will be. They are not glowing but vague prophecies of some future bliss. They are congratulations on what is’

In some ways it’s easier to understand the beatitudes by saying what they are NOT:

They are not a list of people whom God blesses
They are not a list of pious aims
They are not vague promises for the future
They are not outlining a moral code
They are not good advice

But rather they are ‘good news’ – wonderful news even. They are ‘gospel’.

And why are they such wonderful news?

Because something quite momentous has happened. Jesus is explaining to his disciples that the world’s values have been turned upside down, because he has come and intervened in history. God’s values are breaking there and then into 1st century Palestine.

Perhaps you’ve seen the film ‘The Poseidon Adventure’? It was made a good few years ago. (early 70s) In case you haven’t, a luxury ocean liner, the SS Poseidon, is overturned on New Year’s day by a freak wave. The film is the story of people trying to escape before the ship sinks.

The bizarre thing about the SS Poseidon is that it lies in the water completely upside down. So that what was the top of the ship is now bottom. The hull is on top of the water, and the deck is way down in the sea. Everything is upside down. Stairways are upside down, doors are upside down. Tables are upside down. The giant Christmas tree is upside down. It’s a whole new world.

The drama of the film is all in people beginning to realise their predicament, that the ship has turned over, and then responding to it. Working out how to escape. There are a number of approaches and there’s disagreement over who to follow, what route to take, the safest way to exit, in this disorientating upside down world.

When Jesus sits down and begins to teach the disciples at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, he is signalling as clearly as he can that a freak wave has come. That the ship of Judaism has turned upside down. With his coming into the world everything has changed. All the values that were held as important have been turned on their head. These beatitudes reflect that upside down nature. This is ‘upside down’ living. Or rather it is living the right way up (God’s way up) in an upside down world.

There is no doubt that it takes time to adapt, time to learn to live upside down. In the SS Poseidon people were walking on what had been the ceiling. There were new obstacles to negotiate – new ways to learn. It’s hard enough learning to comb your hair looking in a mirror as a child when everything is opposite. Or steering a narrow boat for the first time, pushing the tiller left to go right, or snowboarding on the Wii if you’re left handed!

They all involve retraining your brain. So I’m sure the disciples wouldn’t have got the hang of it straight away. In fact there are plenty of times in the gospels when it’s made clear that the disciples haven’t got the point at all.

But the disciples spent a lot of time with Jesus and whether you think the Sermon on the Mount was one long talk, or Matthew putting sections of Jesus’ teaching together, we can be pretty sure that more was said than is recorded – that Jesus revisited themes, went over his teaching, expanded as necessary.

Because when you’re learning something hearing things just once isn’t enough. You need to hear them over and over again.

And seeing something demonstrated or modelled is a very effective way of learning. Being with Jesus, over time, his ways would have rubbed off on the disciples. They would have begun to live this upside down world.

I was talking to one of the pupils at the High School who has a severe case of hero-worship! His hero is someone he looks up to and wants to be like. This hero will remain nameless however, his roll is that of a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expedition officer and he sparked in this pupil a passion for mountaineering. The boy said to me, “Nothing was as good as spending a weekend hill walking in his presence.” Over time the boy soaked up an ethos of how to be a mountaineer. He listened to what the leader said, but also watched what he did, looked at his equipment, benefitted from his experience, soaked up his stories.

So the disciples hung around with Jesus. They adopted his ethos, even though they didn’t always understand what he was doing. They learned to live in his upside down world.

If we’re going to adopt Jesus’ ethos, if we want to learn how to live God’s way-up in this upside down world then we need to hang around Jesus too!! We don’t have a physical presence in the person Jesus, of course but by reading his word, thinking about his word, engaging with and debating his word, communicating with him through prayer, setting time aside to listen, allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us, then more and more we will see the values of this world as upside down, and God’s as the right way up.

We retrain our brains, we retrain our values, our expectations, our standards, our aspirations. The beatitudes are a summons to live in the present in the way that will make sense in God’s promised future, because that future has arrived in the present in and through Jesus Christ.

It may seem upside down, but we are called to believe, with great daring, that it is in fact the right way up.

The problem is that the majority of people in our society still think that the ‘wonderful news’ is success, wealth, long life which is completely at odds with what Jesus is saying. And if we’re honest most of us probably still think (at least some of the time) that the wonderful news is success, wealth, long life.

Living upside down, or rather ‘the right way up in a world that is upside down’ is going to cause us problems and conflicts. It’s going to cause us to look quite odd at times. It’s going to make us look naive when we trust people society doesn’t want to trust, when we give them a value that society isn’t prepared to give them.

A friend from my Readership training organised a night shelter for rough sleepers through the winter months which was staffed by volunteers at her church. When it was desperately cold she took three of them home to sleep on her lounge floor. She received all kinds of criticism from the church for that act. Such as:

‘What if they’d nicked off in the night with all your electrical goods’?
What if you’d ended up with no telly?

Living out this upside down way of life is going to make us look unworldly, foolish even – perhaps as we decline a promotion at work because we’d rather have some spare time to do voluntary work than have more money. Acknowledging that we have got something badly wrong, apologising for it and doing our absolute best to put it right is going to look weak in a society that likes to pass the buck and push the blame on to others wherever possible.

So – wonderful news! It is the world we’re in that’s upside down. God’s world is the right way up. Let us have courage to keep heading that way, to keep going against the flow.

Sunday Service, 26 January 2014

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In our reading today from Luke chapter 14 verses 1-11 Jesus is going to the house of a Pharisee for a meal, this is common theme in Luke where we find Jesus going for meals more than in any other gospel. For Luke it seems Christian life is like a meal or a party and God is the host.

Verse one however, alerts us to the fact that this is not an innocent Sabbath lunch, Jesus is being watched, the Pharisees were suspicious of Jesus and were looking out for ways to get rid of him. Earlier at Luke 6.7 we are told that ‘The Pharisees and teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.’

The Jews of Jesus day, and many Jews right up to the present day follow the commandment that God gave to Moses

‘Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work.

And many people myself included think that this is a very good commandment, however it has been subject to much debate by Jews regarding what is work. Growing up in Newton Mearns I remember our beautifully dressed Jewish neighbours walking to Schul on a Saturday because driving was work. And in London before the advent of timers Jews would employ a ‘Shabbat goy’ that is a gentile to light the fires and put on the lights because that too was work. So would Jesus work on the Sabbath by healing the man with dropsy?

Bearing in mind the Pharisees aim to get Jesus to incriminate himself we might wonder if the man with dropsy, a condition which caused fluid retention and swelling, was a plant. We might wonder if he had been brought along to test Jesus reaction.

Well, Jesus’ reaction was to take the bull by the horns, he challenges the so called experts on the Jewish law turning the question to them, ‘Well’ he says is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or isn’t it?’ But the experts were unwilling to commit themselves because as I said this was a matter for debate, they wouldn’t commit themselves one way or the other so said nothing and Jesus healed the man and sent him off.

But Jesus wasn’t finished with the hard question because he went on to challenge then on their understanding of the law, ‘can you rescue an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath, what about if it was your son’ he asked them? Well of course the Pharisees would rescue an ox and would certainly rescue their son and the logic is clear; if you can help an animal or a person who has fallen down a well on the Sabbath surely you can heal someone with an illness! Once again the Pharisees could not refute Jesus and had nothing to say. They had set out trap Jesus but Jesus was aware of the trap and neatly avoided it.

So we have the situation where the Pharisees were watching Jesus, but Jesus was also watching them and he saw how they jockeyed for the best positions, the positions of honour at the table. And he told them the parable that we read earlier, one part says:

When you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honoured in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

This doesn’t seem too much like a parable to us, it’s more like a piece of good advice, a way to avoid embarrassment, how to behave in a social setting and is as relevant today as it was in the first century.

In fact the reading that we had from Proverbs is very similar and as experts on the Jewish scriptures the Pharisees might have been expected to recognise its teaching;

Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence,
and do not claim a place among his great men;
it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,”
than for him to humiliate you before his nobles.

So Jesus is turning the tables on the Pharisees and experts of the law, they were watching Jesus looking for him to violate the law, but when they tried to get him to condemn himself Jesus showed them that though they might have a good knowledge of the Torah they did not always follow it’s teachings.

Jesus was not bragging to the Pharisees he was telling them a story about what heaven is like, a story about God’s banquet. He was telling them about the topsy-turvy nature of Gods kingdom where the first are last, where the king of the world is the servant of all, where those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. He was warning them that in Gods kingdom things might not be quite what they were expecting.

As I have studied and reflected on this passage I have wondered about Jesus relationship with the Pharisees. The Pharisees were one several groups of Jews living in Israel in Jesus time. They believed themselves to be the keepers of the Law given to Moses by God. To this law they added precepts or customs which had been handed down through the years. They took these precepts to such extremes that the original intent of the written law was often lost. To the Pharisee, keeping the law was everything. The condition of a person’s heart towards God was unimportant.

The Pharisees were waiting for the Messiah who they believed would be a descendant of King David. They were looking for someone to rule over the Jewish nation, but their idea of the Messiah was certainly not a friend of Gentiles and sinners. And as they were totally convinced that their laws and religious observances were correct. The idea of the Messiah breaking these laws was unthinkable to them.
The Pharisees had so much knowledge and learning, they had studied the Torah so fully they had debated and discussed it’s meaning, dissecting every tiny verse to try and extract every bit of meaning from it that they had constructed a strait jacket that confined the Jews so tightly that they could scarcely move for fear of violating some law or precept. And yet with all their study and learning they had altogether missed the point.

Many years ago our minister Elizabeth and I went to a lecture in Glasgow about the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Speaker made a statement that I have always remembered, he said, ‘The Bible is a big book!’ By which he meant that in all our Bible study, our interest in small sections we should never lose sight of the broad sweep, the big picture of Gods creative and redemptive love for humankind, and this was precisely what the Pharisees did they were so stressed about the minutia that they forgot about God. For them a point of law was more important than a man suffering from an illness.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus was openly opposed to the Pharisees. He denounced them publicly for their hypocrisy, spiritual blindness, and evil ways. Jesus believed that the law which God had intended to enable the Israelites to live righteous lives had been corrupted by the Pharisees;

Sometimes we tend to view Jesus attitudes to the tax gatherers and sinners and the Pharisees and teachers of the Law in a simplistic way, the Pharisees are the baddies’ and the tax gatherers and sinners are the goodies. But of course sinners whether then or now have to repent their sin and turn to God and some Pharisees became followers of Jesus, St Paul himself was originally a devout Pharisee. I think what really upset Jesus about the Pharisees was that they seemed to wilfully miss the point about Gods love. They used the law to keep people out of Gods kingdom instead of using it to help people in.

So what can we learn from this short section of Luke’s Gospel? What does it say to us as a Church and as individual Christians? Well, I think it points up a tendency amongst people, just as strong now as it was in Jesus day to make up rules for Christian living that keep us in and others out. Different denominations disagree about all sorts of things like who we should pray to, whether or not clergy can get married who is worthy to come to communion and so on and so on. And there is still jockeying for position not just at higher levels but within individual churches. Outsiders can see Christianity as a religion where there is more dissent than love, because just as the Pharisees were being watched we as Christians and as a Christian church are being watched.

Jesus was annoyed and frustrated by the Pharisees because they made it hard for people to come to God not easy. But if Jesus came to our church today what kind of church, what kind of Christians would he find? Would he find Christians who are doing everything in their power to make worship open and accessible to all, open to trying different things in order to attract different people? Would he find Christians who ask their friends and neighbours if they would like to come to Church? Would he find Christians who welcome everybody no matter their background but don’t overwhelm new arrivals? Would he find Christians who show love and respect for Christians of other denominations and backgrounds and seek to work with them?

What kind of church would Jesus find if he came in through the doors of this church? And that is a pertinent question because the Bible tells us that Jesus is here in church with us this morning. And just as he watched those first century Pharisees he is watching us. He is watching to see if we put ourselves first as the Pharisees did, he is watching to see if we put barriers in people’s way, he is watching to see if we have sat here week after week yet still missed the central point about sharing his love with others.
Because it is easy to get it wrong, it is easy to repeat the mistakes of the Pharisees that caused Jesus so much pain. But if we want to know how to behave as Christians then the answer is contained in the passage we read today too. In order to get things right we have to carefully watch Jesus, not like the Pharisees looking for faults, but as Christian people learning how to follow our master and our example. And if we follow him and his rule of love, then we will learn to be worthy disciples of our saviour Jesus Christ.

Amen

Sunday Service, 12 January 2014

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My Granny, mother and aunts would say at this time of year ‘well, it’s back to paraich and aul’ claes’. For those not familiar with Lowland Scots, this meant that it’s back to ordinary food (porridge) and work clothes:
the festivities are over and it’s back to work.

For many, this time of year is tinged with sadness, and they have been in our thoughts and prayers, and they are glad when it’s over and they can return to ‘normality’.

I used to think like that when I was working; I was glad to get back to work and get on with it, but I think I was in a minority.

This time of year is a continuation of the new beginning for the Church at the start of Advent, and this is seen in the baptism of Jesus.

In the Sacrament of Baptism we celebrate what God in Christ Jesus has done for us, as we enter upon the new life which God by the Spirit opens to us. Jesus went down to death, but out of the dark depths of sorrow and suffering he rose to life and victory. This was his Baptism. This we recall each time someone is baptized. Baptism means ‘coming through the waters’, to life and salvation in Jesus Christ.
‘An order for baptism’ in David S.M Hamilton,
Through the Waters: Baptism and the Christian Life, T&T Clark 1989

John Calvin described a sacrament as ‘and outward sign by which the Lord seals, on our consciences, the promises of his good will toward us in order to sustain the weakness of our faith’.

Put it another way: a good children’s address often includes a striking visual aid; are not the sacraments God’s visual aids?

We are thinking of how in our baptism we participate in Christ. We don’t have a baptism today, so how about a renewal of the baptismal vows made on our behalf? Passing the baptismal font at the door is a reminder of our baptism and our ‘coming through the waters to life and salvation in Jesus Christ’.

Incidentally, it would be good to have authenticated information about the origin of the font at the door.

The emergence of John the Baptist was like the sudden sounding of the voice of God.

In Isaiah 42:1-9, there are two sections to this particular passage. Verses1-4 describes the servant. With the Spirit upon him, he is to bring forth justice in the world: this means a particular sympathy for the poor, vulnerable and powerless. Usually what is dim or broken will die: but the servant sees that such people are cared for. There’s a challenge for us: who are the dim lights and broken reeds we normally are content to forget or write off, in our world?
Verses 5-9 calls God’s people to righteousness. It begins with a confession of God as Creator and giver of life. Again there is the concern for the easily forgotten. We ‘do righteousness’ when we help those who need a hand. God’s promise is that even the hopeless cases can be saved. Isaiah is saying that a new age is dawning.

At the time before Jesus’ baptism, the Jews were conscious that the voice of the prophets didn’t speak anymore. They said that for four hundred years there had been no prophet. But in John the prophetic voice spoke again. What then were the characteristics of John and his message?

  1. He fearlessly denounced evil wherever he found it. If Herod the king transgressed, John rebuked him. If the Sadducees and Pharisees were obsessed with ritual and rules of their religion, John never hesitated to say so. If the ordinary people were living lives which were unaware of God, John would tell them so.

Wherever John saw evil—in the state, in the Church, in the common people, he fearlessly rebuked it. He was like a light which lit up the dark places. He was like a wind which swept from God through the country.

  1. He urgently summoned people to righteousness. John’s message was not a mere negative denouncing of evil, it was a positive setting-up of the moral standards of God.

He not only denounced people for what they had done; he summoned them to what they ought to do. He not only condemned people for what they were; he challenged them to be what they could be. He was like a voice calling people to higher things. He not only rebuked evil, he also set the good things before mankind.

It may well be said that there have been times when the Church was too occupied in telling people what not to do, and negligent in setting before them the height of the Christian ideal… isn’t this a bit familiar?

  1. John came from God. He came out of the desert. He came to men only after he had undergone years of lonely preparation by God. He came, not with an opinion of his own, but with a message from God. Before he spoke to men, he had communed with God for a long time.

  2. John pointed beyond himself. John was not only a light to light up evil, a voice to rebuke sin, he was also a signpost to God. It was not himself he wished men to see: he wished to prepare for the one who was to come.

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p>It was the Jewish belief that Elijah would return before the Messiah came, and that he would be the herald of the coming King. John wore a garment of camel’s hair, and a leather belt around his waist. It’s no coincidence that this is the very description of the clothes which Elijah had worn.

Matthew connects John with a prophecy from Isaiah; 
In ancient times in the East the roads were bad. There is an eastern proverb which said,” There are three states of misery—sickness, fasting and travel.” (Maybe the last bit is still true!). Before a traveller set out on a journey he was advised ” to pay all debts, provide for dependents, give parting gifts, return all articles under trust, take money and good-temper for the journey, then bid farewell to all.” The ordinary roads were no better than tracks. They were not surfaced at all because the soil of Palestine is hard and would have borne the traffic of mules and oxen and carts.

A journey along such a road was an adventure, and an undertaking to be avoided.

There were a few surfaced and artificially made roads. Such roads were originally built by the king and for the use of the king. They were called “the king’s highway.” They were kept in repair only as the king needed them for any journey that he might make. Before the king was due to arrive in any area, a message was sent out to the people to get the king’s roads in order for the king’s journey. John was preparing the way for the king. He points not at himself, but at God. His aim is not to focus men’s eyes on his own cleverness but on the majesty of God. Men recognised John as a prophet, even after years when no prophetic voice had spoken, because he was a light to light up evil things, a voice to summon people to righteousness, a signpost to point men and womem to God.

And then we come to John’s promise.

As we have said, John pointed beyond, to what was to come. At that time he was enjoying a vast reputation, and he was wielding a most powerful influence.

Yet he said that he was not fit to carry the sandals of the one who was to come—and to carry sandals was the duty of a slave. John’s whole attitude was one of self-effacement. His only importance was, as he saw it, as a signpost pointing to the one who was to come.

He said that the one who was to come would baptise them with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

All through their history the Jews had looked for the time when the Spirit would come.

What then is the gift and work of this Spirit of God?

  1. The promise of the Spirit is the promise of life. The Spirit of God breathes God’s life into a man or woman. When the Spirit of God enters us, the tired, lack-lustre, weary defeatedness of life is gone, and a surge of new life enters us. (We would hope that being at Church would allow us to experience this renewal – do we go out of here feeling refreshed and renewed?).
  2. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of power. When the Spirit of God enters, that person is enabled to do the undoable, and to face the unfaceable, and to bear the unbearable. We only need to look back on our own lives and the lives of others to see that this is what happens, and we are able to deal with previously unimaginable problems and crises.
  3. The Spirit of God is connected with the work of creation. The Spirit exposed to us the orderly laws of nature, (think of lunar and solar eclipses) the details of which can be well explained by scientists. This does not negate the work of the Spirit of God, but in fact it glorifies the work of the Spirit of God as more detail is revealed by scientific research. It usually raises more questions than answers, and we’ll never know it all.
  4. The Spirit of God can re-create us. When the Spirit of God enters into us, our disordered lives are moulded by the Spirit into the harmony and peace of God.

The Spirit enables men to recognise God’s truth when they see it. When the Spirit enters our hearts, our eyes are opened. The prejudices which blinded us are taken away, and we are able to look differently on our fellow human beings and their situation (think of the Christian and humanitarian aid organisations).

These are the gifts of the Spirit and, as John saw it, these are the gifts brought to us by the one who was to come.

When Jesus came to John to be baptised, John was startled and unwilling to baptise him. It was John’s conviction that it was he who needed what Jesus could give, not Jesus who needed what John could give.

Ever since men and women began to think about the gospel story, they have found the baptism of Jesus difficult to understand. In John’s baptism there was a summons to repentance, and an offer of the way to the forgiveness of sins. But, if Jesus is who we believe him to be, he had no need of repentance, or need forgiveness from God. John’s baptism was for sinners conscious of their sin, and therefore it does not seem to apply to Jesus at all.

So, from the earliest times, people were puzzled by the fact that Jesus submitted to being baptised. But there were good reasons why he did.

  1. For thirty years Jesus had waited in Nazareth, faithfully performing the duties of the home and of the carpenter’s shop. All the time he knew that a world was waiting for him. All the time he grew increasingly conscious of his task. The success of any undertaking is determined by choosing the right time. Jesus waited for the moment to come. And when John emerged Jesus knew that the time had arrived; He was in the right place at the right time.
  2. Why should that be so? There was one very simple and very vital reason. It is the fact that never in all history before had any Jew submitted to being baptised. The Jews used baptism, but only for converts who came into Judaism from some other faith. No Jew had ever conceived that he, a member of the chosen people, could ever need baptism.

Baptism was for sinners and no Jew ever saw himself as a sinner shut out from God. Now for the first time in their national history the Jews realised their own sin and their own need of God. Never before had there been such a unique national movement of penitence and of search for God.

This was the very moment for which Jesus had been waiting. This was his opportunity, and in his baptism he identified himself with the men and women he came to save.

The voice which Jesus heard at the baptism is of supreme importance. It said “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” That sentence is composed of two quotations; “This is my beloved son” is a quotation from Psalm 2, and every Jew accepted that Psalm as a description of the Messiah. “With whom I am well pleased” is a quotation from Isaiah 42, which is a description of the Suffering Servant.

So in the baptism there came to Jesus two certainties –
the certainty that he was indeed the Chosen One of God, and the certainty that the way in front of him was the way of the Cross. In that moment he knew that he was chosen to be King, but also knew that his throne must be a Cross. In that moment he knew that he was destined to be a conqueror, but that his conquest must have as its only weapon the power of suffering love.
In that moment there was set before Jesus both his task and the only way to fulfill it.

Let us pray:

Dear Father, when we pass the baptismal font at the door, let it be a reminder of our baptism and our ‘coming through the waters to life and salvation in Jesus Christ’.

Amen.

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